Another Perfect Plant: Potentilla fructicosa ‘Kupinpa’ Happy Face Pink Paradise

The rather long and convoluted name for this cultivar of shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fructicosa ‘Kupinpa’ Happy Face Pink Paradise) belies a lovely, drought tolerant plant. Short, rounded, and long flowering, Potentilla is an excellent shrub for a diversity of locations – perennial border, foundation plantings, highway medians, etc. As long as there is plenty of sun and a well-drained soil Potentilla should thrive. Potentilla is one of many horticultural plants that have seen scientific names change over time. Currently there are thirteen synonyms for Potentilla fruticosa though the most common are Potentilla and Dasiphora.

Taxonomic name changes can happen for a variety of reasons, including the rule of priority (someone else named it first), initial misidentification and subsequent large scale propagation, or advances in current understanding of how plant families interact. As scientific advances improve DNA sequencing, botanists are finding connections between plant families that were previously unknown and which require shuffling of the family tree. Though it often seems like name changes happen to keep taxonomists in business and annoy gardeners, they actually help further our understanding of botany and how the plant world interacts. 

References:
Green Acre Farm and Nursery
Burke Museum
Pacific Horticulture

Photo reference:
Spring Meadow Nursery